George, Andrew

English

SOAS Research Online

  1  The sanctuary of Adad at Zabban? A fragment of a temple list in three sub-columns  The cuneiform tablet Bab 45740 is catalogued by Olof Pedersén (2005: 191 no. 34) as a Neo- or Late Babylonian tablet excavated in April 1912 in the mound Merkes at Babylon, in the street between the temple of B∂let-Akkade (I·tar of Agade) and one of the dwelling houses east of the temple (House XVI). Probably its original home was the temple, where other scholarly tablets were found, including other cultic-topographical lists; Pedersén groups them together as archive/library N8. The obverse of Bab 45740 contains a list of temples and gods, the reverse perhaps a colophon. Only the obverse is illustrated in Pedersén’s book (photograph PhBab 2644 (2), reproduced on p. 190); the reverse cannot be considered further. The list surviving on the obverse gives in each line three pieces of information set out in three sub-columns: (a) a ceremonial Sumerian temple name, which is first identified as (b) the “temple of the god DN” and then (c) translated into Akkadian.  Most surviving temple lists are organized in two sub-columns, with the Sumerian name (a) on the left and either the identification “temple of DN” (b) or an Akkadian translation (c) of the Sumerian on the right. A tripartite organization of entries that combines all three pieces of information occurs in only a few first-millennium temple lists. One edition of the temple list of Babylon, Tintir IV, includes translations of the temples’ Sumerian names in a third sub-column (George 1992: 78–79 no. 4). A fragment from Uruk holds a temple list of similar layout (George 1992: 208–11 no. 31 obv.). The Assyrian temple list appended to the Götteradreßbuch places translations between the Sumerian name and the identification by deity (George 1992: 176–83 no. 20 144–85). Other lists place their translations on an indented line below the main entry; these include a list of sanctuaries in Ki· (George 1992: 193–95 no. 22 col. ii) and the text published as “An explanatory temple list, from Ki· to Apak” (George 1993: 49–56 no. 6). The present list is organized geographically, collecting temples of different locations in short sections divided by rubrics giving totals. In this respect it is like the list “from Ki· to Apak”, which also carries short sections on the temples of different towns, punctuated by rubrics that give the totals for each place. Both pieces may be from the same composition. The present text differs only in its physical layout on the clay. Where the list “from Ki· to Apak” places each temple’s Sumerian name and identification by deity on one line and its translation on a second, indented, line, this new list uses the format of three sub-columns, placing the Sumerian name, identification and translation side by side on the same line – except in l. 1, where the Akkadian translation is placed on a separate line, deeply indented and located above the Sumerian name and the identification by deity. This inversion recalls a practice encountered in some bilingual texts, where the Akkadian version of the first line precedes its Sumerian counterpart as incipit. The extant text contains two sections, one complete in eight lines, the second surviving only in parts of its first three lines. The first section lists seven sanctuaries (b¬tu)   2 of what is clearly a cult-centre of the storm god Adad. Adad himself appears in l. 1, and is followed by his wife ∞ala (l. 5), son M¬·aru (l. 3), son and vizier U◊ur-am®ssu (l. 6), and daughter-in-law I·artu (l. 5). The other two gods are ‡mu-l®-p®dû “Merciless Storm” (l. 7) and a deity of uncertain reading (l. 4). The former is the Akkadian name of the divine weapon Udbanuilla, and is presumably here a weapon of Adad.  The identity of the cult-centre cannot be determined from the rubric (l. 8), where the signs that report the geographical location are illegible. However, enough remains of the Sumerian name of Adad’s temple and its translation (l. 1) to be certain that the sanctuary in question is é.ní.gal.kur.kur.ra.dul.la. This temple name occurs in the Assyrian temple list, where it and a variant name, é.ní.gal.kur.kur.ra.dir.dir.ra, are respectively the sanctuary (ekurru) of Zabban and the temple (b¬tu) of the Lord (B∂l) of Zabban (George 1992: 181–84 no. 20 183–84a).  Zabban, a town in what was formerly ∞imurrum, on the borders between Babylonian and Assyria, remained in the first millennium a well-known cult-centre of Adad, for which the evidence is now collected by Daniel Schwemer (2000: 610). There is no doubt that the Assyrian temple list intends the Lord of Zabban to be understood as the storm god. Though it cannot be excluded that there was another cult-centre of Adad whose temple was called é.ní.gal.kur.kur.ra.dul.la, on present evidence it seems fully plausible that the first entry in the present list is the sanctuary of Zabban. The first section of the text is probably not to be interpreted as a list of seven independent sanctuaries. More likely these were the names of different cultic chambers in a single cult-centre, where Adad lived surrounded by his family, after the usual palatial model of great temples. If the entries in ll. 2–7 were thus subsidiary chapels, that helps to explain why none of them is previously known. The second section, soon interrupted by the break, lists “seats” (·ubtu) of the gods of Babylon: Marduk, Zarpan¬tu and their son Nabû. These cult-places are probably not the great temples of Babylon, for three reasons: (a) it is difficult to imagine any first-millennium list in which a small place like Zabban took precedence over Babylon, either geographical or hierarchical; (b) Marduk and Zarp®n¬tu appear under their Sumerian names, Asallu¿e and Panunanki, which are not normally used to identify cult-places in cultic-topographical lists describing Babylon; (c) in texts of this kind ·ubtu is a technical term for a small shrine, and the three entries surviving here were thus no doubt parts of some larger cult-centre. Marduk of Babylon resided in few locations other than Babylon and A··ur. One was Sippar-Aruru (also known as D‚r-∞arru-k¬n, George 1993: 83 no. 269), and maybe this lesser place is the context here.  In the second section the first and third sub-column are almost completely destroyed; what remains of l. 10 suggests that the third sub-column may have included topographical information relating to the shrine’s location, as well as a translation of its Sumerian name. Topographical details are typical of ·ubtu-lists: see the lists of cult-places in E-sangil and analogous lists for E-·arra in A··ur, E-anna in Uruk and another temple (George 1992: 43–55 Tintir II; 185–91 no. 21; 198–203 nos. 25–26).    1 [(vacat?)            bi?-t]u-um ·á pu-lu¿-«ta-·u» [m®t®ti(kur.(kur)me· kat-mat]   3   [é.ní.gal.kur.kur.r]a.dul.la  b¬t(é) dadad(i·kur) x [ . . . ]  2 [é.x.(x).x].kù.ga b¬t(é) d·a-la b¬tu(é) ·á pu-lu¿-t[a-·u . . . ]  3 [é.x.(x).x].kù.ga b¬t(é) dmi-·ar-rum b¬tu(é) ·á ina ·á-de-«e» e[l-lu]  4 [é.x.x.siki]l.la b¬t(é) dx x x x b¬tu(é) ·á pu-lu¿-ta-·u x[ (x) x]  5 [é.x.(x).si].sá b¬t(é) di-·ár-ti b¬t(é) mu·-te-·ir x x [(x) x]  6 [é.x.(x).x].ga b¬t(é) du4-me la pa-di-i b¬tu(é) nam-ru ·á ina a·-ri ﬂa-bi· b[a-nu-ú?]  7 «é».ki.tu·.[x.x].x b¬t(é) dú-◊ur-a-mat-su b¬t(é) ma-ri kun-ni-i  8 7 ·um‚(mu)?m[e· ekurr®tu(é.kur)m]e·  ina x (x) xki  9 [é . . . ] ·u-bat dasal-lú-¿e b¬tu(é) [ . . . ] / [ . . . ] 10 [é . . . ] ·u-bat dpa5-nun-an-ki b¬tu(é) ·á [ . . . ] / ina é.x[ . . . ] 11 é.[ . . . ] [·u-bat] dna-bi-um b¬tu(é) [ . . . ]        ina [ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] x x [ . . . . . ] x x [ . . . ] 12 «é».[ . . . right edge: illegible traces   1 [E-nigal-kurkurra]-dulla the temple of Adad;    [House] whose fearsomeness [envelops the lands.]  2 [E- . . . ]-kuga the temple of ∞ala;    House whose fearsomeness [ . . . ]  3 [E- . . . ]-kuga the temple of M¬·aru;    House which [is pure] among the mountains.  4 [E- . . . ]-sikilla the temple of . . . ;    House whose fearsomeness [ . . . ]  5 [E- . . . -si]sa the temple of I·artu;    House that delivers justice . . . [ . . . ]  6 [E- . . . ]ga the temple of the Merciless Storm;    Shining house that is [built(?)] in a place pleasantly.  7 E-kitu·-[ . . . ]x the temple of U◊ur-am®ssu;    House of the Cherished Son.  8 Seven names [of sanctuaries] in . . .  9 [E- . . . ] the seat of Asallu¿e;    House [ . . . ]  10 [E- . . . ] the seat of Panunanki;    House which [ . . . ,] in E-[ . . . ]  11 E-[ . . . ] [the seat of] Nabû;    House [ . . . ] in [ . . . ] . . . [ . . . ]  12 E-[ . . .  Notes 1. [bi-t]u-um is not an expected spelling in a text of this kind, and such a restoration presumes an unusually deep indentation for the translation, but no better reconstruction suggests itself. In the Assyrian temple list the TN is translated slightly differently, and   4 twice (George 1992: 180 l. 184): katm‚ melamm‚·u ·adê m®t®ti “Its radiance envelops the mountains of the lands”; and, more conventionally (l. 184a): [b¬tu ·a] melamm‚·u m®t®ti katm‚ “[House whose] radiance envelops the lands”.  2. The only Sumerian temple name hitherto associated with ∞ala is é.dúr.kù, probably in Adad’s southern cult-centre at Karkara (George 1993: 81 no. 232). Final kù matches our kù.ga, but dúr “seat” is an improbable source of pulu¿tu “fearsomeness”. Combining sub-columns (a) and (c) would produce a TN [é.ní.gal].kù.ga = b¬tu ·a pulu¿ta·u [ellet] “House whose fearsomeness is sacred”. In temple names the adjective kù-g applies more commonly to concrete objects than to abstractions. Accordingly pulu¿tu here refers to the shrine’s numinous aura, which might certainly be considered “pure, sacred, holy”, and which, in a sense, was envisaged as a concrete attribute of divinity. 3. The only Sumerian temple name previously paired with M¬·aru is ur.sag.sum.kud.da, a chamber of the temple of A··ur at A··ur (George 1993: 156 no. 1187). What remains of the first and third sub-columns in the present entry suggests the temple name é.¿ur.sag.kù.ga, which is otherwise borne by a temple of the goddess Gula at Babylon (George 1993: 101 no. 485). 4. Perhaps [é.ní.gal.siki]l.la = b¬tu ·a pulu¿ta·u e[llet] “House whose fearsomeness (= radiance) is sacred”. The name of its resident is difficult to read on the photograph, and I cannot make up my mind whether it begins with mes, nun or sukkal. What deity could have intervened between M¬·aru and I·artu? 5. For I·artu “Fairness” as the wife of Adad’s son M¬·aru “Justice”, see An = Anum III 246–47 and Schwemer 2000: 67–68. No names are elsewhere known for sanctuaries or shrines of this goddess. The remnants of this one, si.sá = mu·t∂·iru “one who renders justice”, are clearly appropriate to her function as an arbiter of justice. 6. ‡mu-l®-p®dû “Merciless Storm” is the Akkadian name of the divine weapon Udbanuilla, according to Nabn¬tu XVI 132 (George 1992: 413). Under its Sumerian name this weapon is usually encountered as a symbol of Ninurta at Nippur (Cooper 1978: 124 on Angim 132; George 1992: 150 l. 20'; Klein and Sharlach 2007: 5 ii 14). In this text, amid Adad’s family, it must be considered a weapon of the storm god, a role for which its name suits it. No ceremonial temple names are hitherto associated with ‡mu-l®-p®dû but, when oaths were taken at Nippur in the Old Babylonian period, the weapon Udbanuilla was brought to a gate of Enlil’s sanctuary called variously ká.du6.ur.sag.e.ne (PBS V 100 ii 10, iv 1), níg.érim.nu.dib (Klein and Sharlach 2007: 5 i 28, 9 l. 3), [b®b gi]·kirîm(kiri6) du6.ur.s[ag.e.ne] (ARN 59 rev. 1); and ká ur.sag.e.ne.ke4 níg.érim nu.dib = b®b qar-ra-di ·a rag-gu la i-ba-’u “Gate of the Warriors that Evil Cannot Pass” (Ana itt¬·u VI iii 40–41). None of these names can be restored in the present line. The presence of namru, a·ru and ﬂ®bi· in sub-column (c) suggests that the temple name was perhaps é.babbar.ki.dùg.ga “Shining House, Pleasant Place”, a name otherwise unattested but entirely sound ideologically. The Akkadian translation would then be a slight (and syntactically clumsy) elaboration. 7. Working from the Akkadian b¬t m®ri kunnî suggests a temple name é.ki.tu·.[dumu.mí.dùg.g]a, also otherwise unattested – but there does not seem to be   5 quite space for it; perhaps instead é.ki.tu·.[dumu.mí].dùg? For U◊ur-am®ssu as Adad’s son and vizier see An = Anum III 248 and Schwemer 2000: 68–69.  8. The line is restored after the pattern of BM 55476: 11, 18, 27: x mume· é.kurme· (·a qereb) GNki (George 1993: 50–51 no. 6). 9. The only explicitly known “seat of Asallu¿e” in cultic-topographical lists is kar.ab.ba “Quay of the Sea” in E-·arra at A··ur (George 1992: 186 no. 21 obv. 7'). 10. For Zarpan¬tu’s Sumerian alias see, e.g., the god list CT 25 35 obv. 8 // 36 obv. 7: [d]pa5.nun.an.ki = dzar-pa-ni-tum.  References Cooper, J. S. 1978. The Return of Ninurta to Nippur. Analecta Orientalia 52. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico George, A. R. 1992. Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 40. Leuven: Peeters George, A. R. 1993. House Most High. The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian Civilizations 5. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns Klein, J. and T. M. Sharlach 2007. A collection of model court cases from Old Babylonian Nippur (CBS 11324). Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 97: 1–25 Pedersén, O. 2005. Archive und Bibliotheken in Babylon. Die Tontafeln der Grabung Robert Koldeweys 1899–1917. Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 25. Saarwellingen Schwemer, D. 2000. Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz  London, June 2008 A. R. GEORGE  

The sanctuary of Adad at Zabban? A fragment of a temple list in three sub-columns

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

SOAS Research Online